Character education program honors Palm students

Jesse Blecher, Brianna D'Apuzzo and Sean Fiumara take action against bullying and drug abuse and assist students who need help or are down. The three tutor, mentor and other good deeds.

Jesse, 10, tries to prevent bullying at New Horizons Elementary School in Wellington and stands up for others when they are harassed. As student council president, Jesse leads by example in promoting a "Bully-Free Zone."

Brianna, 14, participates in Students Against Destructive Decisions and the Safe School Ambassador program at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Boynton Beach. She works hard spreading the message about the danger of drugs and bullying issues.

Sean, 7, encourages students and adults at Coral Sunset Elementary School in Boca Raton. He possesses a special sense of when others are having a bad day. He also accompanies a teacher in greeting students in the morning.

The three are among 12 students selected as top honorees for the ninth year of a Sun Sentinel Character Counts! celebration, staged May 1. Thirty-five students received honorable mentions. The Sentinel, Palm Beach County Public Schools and Publix hosted the event at Santaluces High School in Lantana.

Other top honorees included: Amelia Ross, 17, who inspires students at Park Vista Community High School in Lake Worth to participate in community service; Mireille Samra, 14, an ambassador at Omni Middle School in Boca Raton who also volunteers with children on a community basketball team; and Gabriel Gonzalez, 12, who joyfully cared for his ailing mother for years and counseled against bullying at Gove Elementary School in Belle Glade.

The 47 students and others honored during the school year also volunteered with special education students, fundraising walks for good causes, food collection for the needy, beach clean-ups and Habitat for Humanity.

Jesse Blecher said the "Bully-Free Zone" at New Horizons is "where no kids get hurt, nobody has mean feelings. I want to make it everywhere."

Jesse, a fifth-grader from Wellington, said he got the idea in the fourth grade when he saw two people bullying a second-grader and "I wanted to make it stop. I did this a couple more times, too."

His brother, Rafael, said he "has a heart of gold" and brother Bryce said he "doesn't allow any bullying or unfriendly comments in his presence."

Jesse also is an ambassador at New Horizons, welcoming new students. He assists others as a peer tutor in math and science.

In the community, Jesse helps others through food and toy drives. He feels good about donating toys for kids who "don't have a lot like we do in our family." He participates in the toy effort every other weekend.

As a member of SADD, Brianna D'Apuzzo, an eighth-grader from Lake Worth, said she does things "to raise awareness about drug use and reckless driving" and "come up with different ways to get teenagers to really see the dangers." She makes morning announcements, creates posters and does fundraisers in the community.

As a Safe School Ambassador, she stays alert to potential bullying situations and steps in "when kids are getting picked on. … I've experienced bullying through friends and family members. That's one of my motivations."

Once a week, she mentors a sixth-grader, especially with "the whole middle school situation."

She also participates in many community service events, such as Jacob's Run, Walk & Roll, to help find a cure for spinal muscular atrophy, and with the Walk to Cure Diabetes. She also volunteers with Basket Brigade, helping collect food for families during the holidays.

"All of these things come into one loop of making a difference," she said. "It makes me feel good to know that I am helping."

Sean Fiumara, a first-grader from Boca Raton, "is able to empathize with students and adults in a way most kids don't," said Sara Goldberg, school counselor.

Sean, who also helps peers with classwork, initially impressed her when he said hello at the school entry every day and then started standing with her to greet students. She noticed he knew the names of many students, even outside his grade.

"I told him I wished I was as popular as he, and without skipping a beat, he said, 'I walk home with a lot of them; meet me at the gate after school and I'll introduce you around,'" Goldberg said.

Sean, who accompanies many students at dismissal to their parents' cars at pick-up, said, "I like meeting people, so I can have a lot of friends." That way, he also can tell when they are down. "I try to talk to them and figure out why they are sad and try to cheer them up."

As Key Club president, Amelia Ross, a senior from Lake Worth, organizes teams of community helpers to assist the needy. Her dream "is to unveil to students and people that helping others, raising money for charities and volunteering fulfills a person with an unexplainable feeling and provides them with an abundant joy," said Kanlaya Luksa, teacher and Key Club adviser.